NHL 15 promises dangles galore with Superstar Skill Stick

If you’re a hardcore fan of EA Sports’ NHL video game series, you remember the transition from button deking to joystick deking vividly. It was like taking the training wheels off. It felt weird and wobbly at first, but once you got the hang of it, there was nothing holding you back anymore.

The Skill Stick, popularized in NHL 07, turned the right analog portion of a controller into your hockey stick, with the left analog functioning as your body. You could deke and improvise like never before. You could shame your friends by undressing their goalies on breakaways and there was a new degree of “ownership” to your goals, as they reflected your ability to maneuver the stick.

Flash forward to the upcoming NHL 15, which launches on PlayStation 4 and XBox One Sept. 9 (Xbox 360 and PS3 as well, but the hype is all about how the game will look in a new generation of consoles). Early footage of the game suggests new leaps in graphics, facial detail, hitting and general gameplay. The latest teaser trailer unveils the Superstar Skill Stick, which takes dangling to a whole new level. Check it out:

Combining the True Performance Skating with completely fluid dekes should make the game different each time you play it. Every goal should feel unique. Especially impressive: seeing the players roll their wrists as they guide the puck back and forth. And the biscuit looks less glued to the stick than in the past.

The Glitch Goal Society will surely find a way to exploit this new advancement – those basement-dwelling jerks always do – but, for now, let’s just enjoy how good the Superstar Skill Stick looks.